Plea bargain shot down in 2011 murder case

TRENTON — A prosecutor scoffed today at the suggestion he drop a murder charge in exchange for the suspect pleading guilty to the lesser offense of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Brian McCauley told Tyreek Anderson his only choice was to plead guilty to murder and get 30 years to life in prison. Anderson, who kept glancing back at a weeping relative the victim in the audience, became stone-faced after that.

Anderson, 24, is charged in the slaying of Deon Maurice “Knowledge” Harris, 39, on July 18, 2011, at a basketball court on Garfield Avenue. He allegedly fired multiple times as the victim attempted to run from the bullets.

Anderson is also charged with wounding a 20-year-old woman bystander. Anderson was indicted on murder, criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses, including possession of a gun by a convicted felon.

According to Trenton police records from March 2009, Anderson and three other young men were picked up carrying handguns during a zero tolerance drug sweep. Anderson was charged with outstanding warrants, receiving stolen property and possession of a 22-caliber handgun.

Today, Anderson appeared in handcuffs and shackles before Superior Court Judge Thomas Sumners, who said the suspect would agree to plead to the weapons charge but not murder.

After McCauley rejected that notion, Anderson’s public defender said he never really had sought such a plea deal.

Anderson has been incarcerated in lieu of $300,000 bail in the Mercer Corrections Center since his arrest three months after the slaying. He was tracked down by Trenton homicide detectives with help from the Mercer sheriffs and U.S. marshals in the NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force.